Rules are there for a reason and safety should not be sniffed at – but sometimes, just sometimes, pushing the boundaries leads to exciting innovations!

For example, in high jump, using the flop, Dick Fosbury won the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships in 1968 and went on to qualify for the 1968 Olympic team. Fosbury changed this sport forever, jumping 2.24 meters (7 feet 4.25 inches) to break the world record and win the Olympic gold medal. In the years that followed, Fosbury’s technique became the event standard.

However, the world is not always ready for such breakthroughs:

When Nadia Comăneci scored a perfect 10 points at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, in gymnastics for her uneven bars routine, her results flashed up as “1.00”! The Omega scoreboard designers had not accounted for the possibility of a perfect performance!
Similarly, ski jump judges frowned upon Jan Boklöv’s unusual V-style and he always lost points because they had not seen it before; nowadays everybody does it.
Finally, the genius of Tuariki Delamere’s long jump technique involving a somersault midair, was stopped in its tracks with a ban before the 1975 Olympics – even though his training with a biomechanic had proved it a more efficient way to jump.

Obviously, safety comes first (especially in school) and students should not be encouraged to put themselves or others in danger for the sake of a few more sports inches or seconds. Nonetheless, shaking things up a bit in PE and sport can inspire natural athletes to get even better – and may even unleash unexpected potential in others.

Conventional PE and sports teaching is improved by:

Teacher enthusiasm
Teacher expertise
Positive feedback
Realistic Expectations
Celebration of success
Effective communication
Making things fun…

…and making things fun can lead both the teacher and the students to think outside the box, try something new and innovate.

This innovation may involve adapting familiar sports for a different perspective, introducing something completely new, or transferring skills to a different sport.

Adapt and Include

Here are a few ideas to add interest, extra learning, change and inclusivity to your routine sports:

Walking Basketball
Walking Football
Sign Language used by the coach and students during play
Teq Table is a curved table that is used as a centrepiece to play adapted versions of Football, Table Tennis, Volleyball and Catch

How about a spot of:

Maybe that student who hates football will suddenly reveal a talent with the frisbee, whilst the one who has no interest in Hockey is a whizzkid on the unicycle!

Introducing something completely new in your sports lessons could give that much-needed confidence boost or ignite a spark of interest that has been missing for some students.

Teachers and parents can help boost both skills and self-esteem

Explicit teachingof mechanics: Correct alignment of the body in order to maintain balance (e.g. aiming at and facing the body towards the target when throwing).
Strengthen the ‘core’namely the central muscles of the body to provide greater body (especially trunk) stability.
Simplify tasks

Improve muscle strengthto allow for better muscle control for speed and direction of movement.
Improve muscular enduranceto increase the length of time with which the child can maintain balance and coordination.
Improve sensory processing

Teachers and parents can help boost both skills and self-esteem

Explicit teachingof mechanics: Correct alignment of the body in order to maintain balance (e.g. aiming at and facing the body towards the target when throwing).
Strengthen the ‘core’namely the central muscles of the body to provide greater body (especially trunk) stability.
Simplify tasks
Improve muscle strengthto allow for better muscle control for speed and direction of movement.
Improve muscular enduranceto increase the length of time with which the child can maintain balance and coordination.
Improve sensory processing

Transfer Skills

Sometimes, innovation and reenergisation come through realising that established skills can be transferred to a different sport. Not only does this stretch the athletic student but it may also inspire other students to realise that they can use skills in another sport, which they prefer.

Logical skills transfer include:

Gymnastics to Diving or Aerial Skiing
Track and Field (Sprinters) to Bobsledding or Rugby
Gymnastics to Martial Arts
Swimming to Running to Triathlon
Tennis to Golf
Cycling to Rowing
Yoga to Climbing

There’s plenty of inspiration for transferable skills amongst famous athletes!

Athlete	Sports
Sir Bradley Wiggins	Track cycling, road cycling
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson	Football, wrestling
Michael Phelps	Baseball, soccer, lacrosse, swimming
Tim Wiese	Football, wrestling
Usain Bolt	Track racing, soccer
Rebecca Romero	Rowing, track cycling
Petr Čech	Soccer, ice hockey
Lauren Price	taekwondo, netball, soccer, boxing
Deion Sanders	Baseball, basketball, football
Michael Jordan	Basketball, baseball
Bo Jackson	Baseball, football
Sarah Storey	Swimming, cycling
Roswitha Krause	Swimming, handball
Jim Thrope	Baseball, football, ballroom dancing, decathlon and pentathlon
Dave Winfield	Baseball, basketball and football

With all this in mind, make 2025 the year that you look at your students and sports facilities in a different way to see where you can expand skills, experience and confidence with a touch of fun innovation!

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